COMM 280A: Magazine Production: Beginning Staff

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Winter 2021
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 90
Lecture Hours : 36
Lab Hours: 54
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 72
Strongly Recommended: COMM 101, ENGL 101 or ENGL 101E.
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: No
Grading Method: Standard Letter

Catalog Course Description

An introductory lecture/laboratory journalism course in which the organization, formula, format, and production methods of paper and/or digital magazines are studied and applied in the development of the college magazine, Logos. Beginning staff members learn facts-based storytelling techniques and modern news production skills. Activities for the magazine’s print, online, and social media editions include writing and editing various genres of stories, taking video and/or still photography, producing art/illustrations, and designing the magazine layout. 36 lecture hours, 54 lab hours.

Course Objectives

  • Beginner journalism students demonstrate familiarity with different types of current paper-based and digital magazines, including but not limited to, trade magazines, company publications, specialized magazines, and mass magazines.
  • Beginner journalism students learn basic/beginner level techniques for gathering information, interviewing sources, and producing copy adhering to AP style as they write magazine-length features appropriate for a community college audience.
  • Beginner journalism students work collaboratively with intermediate, advanced and leadership-level journalism students to design and produce a student magazine on the computer to be printed and/or for digital delivery, within predetermined deadlines.

Major Course Content

  1. Overview of the evolution and probable future of the magazine as a mass medium
    1. Terminology associated with magazine editing and production
  2. Editorial policies, purposes, audiences, organizations, and production methods of different types of magazines published commercially today
    1. Mass magazines
    2. Specialized magazines
    3. Trade magazines
    4. Company publications
  3. Student magazine staff organization
    1. Role of faculty advisers, lab supervisors, student editors
    2. Duties and responsibilities of beginning staff members
    3. Publication schedule and deadlines for print and online publications as well as social media presence
    4. Student Publications Policy Manual
  4. News gathering basics
    1. Researching and finding sources
    2. Interviewing and attribution of sources
    3. Note-taking techniques
  5. Basics of news writing
    1. Copy preparation according to AP style
    2. Basic grammar for correct sentence structure
    3. Magazine-length story structure
    4. Editing and revision techniques
  6. Fundamentals of visual journalism
    1. Introduction to photo composition
    2. Writing captions
    3. Graphics and illustration
    4. Posting to social media

Lab Content

  1. Writing for publication/genres guided practice for student publications
  2. Compare and contrast layout techniques with guided practice
  3. Compare and contrast photo/video techniques and photo/video layout with guided practice
  4. Compare and contrast art/web techniques and art/web layout with guided practice
  5. Compare and contrast social media communication techniques with guided practice
  6. Copy editing

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Journalistic feature article writing assignments (write a 1,200-word story profiling a significant student, staff member, faculty member, administrator or alumnus/alumna from Citrus College); journalistic still photography (shoot, assemble and publish an online photo gallery of 20 photos with captions containing a variety of imagery of a recent musical performance at Citrus College)

Examples of Outside Assignments

Write news, feature and/or profile articles for publication in the print magazine or online on the magazine's website Shoot photos/video of news, feature and/or profile subjects for publication in the print magazine or online on the magazine's website Design and layout pages containing magazine's content for publication in the print magazine or online on the magazine's website Make decisions regarding the editorial content of each publication, whether in print or online Observe activities related to course content Participate in activities related to course content

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Lab, Online Education Lecture, Online Education Lab